I adore Jodi Picoult and her writing, but I am afraid this book was not for me. It reads like it is part Egyptian text, part fictional story. I love learning new things while I read a fictional story, but this particular book was just too much like reading a textbook.

Have you ever wondered about what your life might be like right now if you’d made different decisions or taken different paths? If so, then The Book of Two Ways is for you.

The story is primarily a romance between Dawn, her old boyfriend and her newer husband. I liked the men in this story, but I didn’t care for Dawn, the main character. Aside from her amazing work as a death doula, she acted very selfishly. I didn’t understand her decisions and I certainly didn’t agree with them. I would have liked this book so much more if I’d liked Dawn. I almost felt as though she’d wrecked two men’s lives: first her boyfriend’s and then her husband’s. Her poor daughter was just collateral damage.

On the other hand, one thing that I really liked a lot was the information on ancient Egypt and the stories of the gods and goddesses. I learned quite a bit from reading this like (which is very typical for Picoult). I also liked how the story ran across two timelines and then explained the multi-verse from a physicist’s standpoint.

As always, Picoult writes a beautiful story. Her prose is excellent, and she’s an expert in bringing out the emotions of her characters.

However, in the end, this book wasn’t for me. I think it’s because I’m such a huge fan of hers and I hold her work to higher standards. I’m not sorry I read it, but I only gave it three stars.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Another fabulous Jodi Picoult novel. The detail, as always, was immaculate, I felt fully immersed, not only in the characters & storyline, but also in the historical aspects of Egyptian culture. Great read!

A Review In Two Ways
I've ready many of the prolific Jodi Piccoult's novels, and to me there's no one who can capture the intricacies of human interaction, especially when it comes to enduring grief and tragedy. The Book of Two Ways is unlike any of her previous books I've read, but in many ways the same - and that's why my review really goes two ways.

Let's start with the ways I loved the book. For one, she's once again a master at painting characters. The Book of Two Ways is centered around Dawn, a former aspiring archaeologist who now works as a "Death Doula". Her job as a death doula is fascinating, and once again Jodi Piccoult examines death in ways that are comforting (at least to me). At the start of the story, Dawn is on a plane that is crashing, and what she thinks about in her last minutes (what she thinks are her last minutes anyway) are not of her current husband, but past love. That's where the book splits Sliding Doors-style into what her life would be like had she stayed with her dashing, fellow archealogist love Wyatt and bounces between that world and the one with her steady, solid husband Brian.

The ways I didn't totally love the book is it gets very heavily detailed on Egyptian history and hieroglyphics = and I sort of mentally checked out during those parts. For some, I'm sure it will be fascinating, but me for me I wanted to get back to the relationships and how Dawn is going to decide which way of the two ways she'll ultimately choose.

Overall, it's a wonderfully written story with a couple plot twists but plenty of details and the rich relationships you come to expect from Jodi Piccoult.

3.75 stars rounded up. Great story but lost amongst so much Egyptian history.
Couldn't get behind the deceit either. Overall a good effort but didn't love it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
I've read a few Picoult books and love the way she makes you think. I never expect a happy ending like you get with romance novels, which is good, it keeps me wondering where this is going. It's an honest exploration of the different paths life can take.

The characters felt real and their struggles felt real and pulled me in. However even though I'm a very smart person and like to learn things (historical fiction is my fave genre) this book felt like a lot of work to read because it had TOO MUCH detail about Egyptology and history and quantum physics etc. I feel like the author did her research so well she felt compelled to include EVERY SINGLE THING SHE LEARNS DURING HER RESEARCH and it was way too much, she needed to pare it down. It's frustrating because I end up skimming and then I'm afraid I'll miss something important. She needs to edit her own work or needs a better editor.

In one harrowing moment, her life changed forever.

Dawn Edelstein, the main character and death doula, braced herself as the very plane she was on crashed.

While she survives, that life-changing moment caused to her to question everything and she has many choices to make, including learning who she really is.

Highly recommend for fans of intercontinental self-discovery stories.

Jody Picoult did not disappoint with her newest book. Once again she demonstrates she is a consummate researcher and storyteller. In this book, she examines the loves of our lives, how we find them and lose them, and how fate and our choices conspire to weave together our lives and loves. It also examines what it means to live and to die. All this is set against the background of an archeological dig in Egypt and life back at home in Boston.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. Interesting read. Not my favorite Jodi Picoult novel, but it was an engaging read that I enjoyed.

This was an emotional novel! It explores family and love. And it explores life and death. Dawn’s life is full of death as she works with people who are dying through her job and she lost her own mother. When she experiences her own near death accident, she questions her life and someone she lost a long time ago.

Jodi Picoult is back with another enjoyable book, though it wasn't one of my favorites of hers. It moved a little slowly at times. And, while she's known for meticulously researching her writing topics, it sometimes comes across as her trying to prove how much she knows about a subject rather than developing a plot. Nonetheless, I really connected with the parts of this story related to questioning past decisions and exploring "what if" scenarios about what could have been. I was also interested in Picoult's examination of what it means to both live a good life and die a good death. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the above topics and/or to egypt-obsessed readers, a subject which encompasses a good part of this fictional story.

I read Jodi Picoult for two reasons. One is that I've felt poisoned by deeply noir novels filled with unlikable characters and need to read about an inspiring protagonist. That's why I read the Jodi Picoult novella Larger Than Life. See my review here. The other reason why I read Jodi Picoult is because I want to see how she handles a particular theme.

The central concept of The Book of Two Ways sounded compelling. I expected that Jodi Picoult would approach it in a way that would be dramatic, and draw me in to the lives of the characters. She is an author who writes about significant ideas in the context of fiction about people who readers can identify with. At least, that has always been my experience through my years of reading Picoult. It's why she's been a favorite. I was saving The Book of Two Ways for a time when I wanted to get away from genre fiction. So I excavated the Net Galley copy of Picoult's latest book from my Kindle's contents with anticipation.

Our protagonist Dawn McDowell Edelstein had once been on track to become an archaeologist when fate upended her life. She left archaeology behind, got married and became a death doula. I've linked to a USA Today article about what death doulas do. A pivotal event happens and Dawn feels the need to re-examine her life. The plot summary says that this event was surviving a plane crash, but actually Dawn was impelled toward the journey that re-connected her with her past by something else that happened earlier. Revealing the entire plot sequence would, of course, be a major spoiler. I would never do that in a review.

Some readers have found it difficult to sympathize with Dawn. I have not been in Dawn's life situation, and don't know for certain how I would react if I were. I have compassion for Dawn, and believe that her decisions were understandable. Yet she hurt people who didn't deserve to be hurt. Readers will need to decide whether Dawn should be forgiven.

There are two men in Dawn's life, the archaeologist Wyatt Armstrong and her husband physicist Brian Edelstein. Both men are flawed in different ways. At various points, I wondered why she would have become involved with either one of them. On the other hand, they each have their strengths. All men are imperfect human beings, and Dawn certainly isn't a paragon herself.

Dawn's daughter Meret, who we meet at age fifteen, is probably the most relatable character. In her case, adolescent angst is very much justified. She needed a dependable mother, not one who was going through a mid-life crisis. In our society, men are more easily forgiven for their mid-life crises even when they have children. Mothers are viewed as being too crucial to families. They are harshly judged as child abandoners. It's fortunate that Meret turns out to be much more mature and resilient than the typical teen. I feel that husband Brian deserves the credit for that. He was the one who imbued her with the internal resources that allowed her to navigate challenging circumstances.

As always, Jodi Picoult has written a novel that focuses on the impact of a particular predicament on a family. The Book of Two Ways may not be her best book, but it was a worthy one, if only because I learned about the experience of being a death doula. Readers who are interested in ancient Egypt may also find it worthwhile.

’Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She’s on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind.

’The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband but of a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong.’

THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS by Jodi Picoult – Beautiful, Heartbreaking, And So Relatable—Highly Recommend!!

Thank you, NetGalley and Ballantine Books, for loaning me an eGalley of THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS in exchange for an honest review.

* SPOILERS*
I was so intrigued by the synopsis of The Book of Two Ways and having loved Jodi Picoult's last two novels I couldn't wait to read it. I found my mind wandering quite a bit during the first half of the book, mostly when it came to the parts on Egyptology. I was very invested in Dawn's two very separate and different love stories and that is what kept me reading. About halfway through the book it started to really pick up for me and I couldn't read fast enough. I had to know what path Dawn would take! But then it just ends. There is no resolution. I have no idea who or what Dawn chose. I get that this book is about life and death and love; I enjoyed exploring those topics more deeply. But I can't help but feel disappointed by the way this book ended. Having said that, it will not deter me from picking up Jodi Picoult's next book!

I am a huge Jodi Picoult fan and have loved every book. When I found out this book was about Egypt, I thought it would be different and it was. The story, which shifts back and forth, involves a young woman named Dawn who ends up on a plane to Egypt to supposedly finish her PhD which she started years ago but because of life situations, she never finished. She also goes back to see what happened to her first love, Wyatt, a fellow PhD student whom she met and became involved with during their investigations of an Egyptian pyramid. Dawn was called back home because her mother was dying. She goes back to be with her mother, and there she meets and falls in love with Brian Edelstein whom she marries. She later becomes a Death Doula to help people who are dying and their loved ones. The story is so touchingly written, with twists and turns. There were sections involving the tombs, pyramids, and quantum physics that I just glanced over because they were so technical.

I've only read a few titles by Jodi Picoult, but this book blew me away. It was beautifully crafted and uniquely told. I really enjoyed the prominence of Egyptology within the book and felt like I learned something in addition to just enjoying a haunting story that stuck with me.

Great story. Another well written book that has you thinking and rereading a second time. I loved it!!

I thought I would enjoy a Picoult book about Egyptology. However, it was less about Egyptian history and more about how they buried their dead. The modern storyline was extremely depressing, and I never felt like I truly got to know the main character. I learned quite a bit about end-of-life planning and grief, but that wasn't what I was hoping to get out of it. The twist took me by surprise, but I should have seen it coming, and I would have, but I was expecting something completely different. The ending was abrupt and poetic, but again, it was just okay. Overall, it wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't my favorite Picoult book.

Let me start off by saying that Jodi Picoult is an astounding author. If you look at her library of books it covers so many different topics, settings, and character experiences and each is handled with extreme care (see: Small Great Things & The Storyteller). I have no idea how she can be so prolific, publishing an average of every 18 months but also be so thorough in her subject matter.

If you are familiar with Picoult books, I related this book to “Leaving Time” a novel she wrote which centered around elephants in Africa in that the first half reads like a textbook on ancient Egypt, complete with archaeological sites and unpronounceable Egyptian names. While I appreciate the in-depth knowledge that she brings to the backstory of the Book of Two Ways, I feel like the editor’s pen would have been a great benefit in trimming down some of the more academic parts of the book and allowing the reader to be more immersed in the internal struggle that Dawn faces as she interacts with the two storylines of the book.

As the description above implies, there is an “It’s a Wonderful Life” type theme of being able to go back and choose a different decision for your life. Unfortunately, the way that Dawn acts, it made it really hard to root for her in either of the different journeys. I found a lot of privilege oozing through the pages when her choices are between her stable husband and the dashing archaeologist, it comes off as selfish that she is so anguished over the choice or that she put herself in that situation at all.

There is a characteristic Picoult-like “twist” at the end of the novel and, in the end, I can’t say that I like the final result but that may be more due to personal life circumstances than what the story itself. In the end, the beautiful setting was laid against a story that fell flat for me. I’d love to hear what you thought!

Thank you Netgalley, Ballentine Books, and the Author for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Dawn Edelstein survives a horrifying plane crash, it causes her to rethink her life and her marriage. She sees two paths she could have taken: her current one, married to her scientist husband, Brian, and mother to their daughter, Meret. In this life, she is a death doula, helping her clients at the end of their lives. She and Brian are also struggling, dealing with the unhappiness and infidelity in their marriage. In the other path, she's back in Egypt, picking up on a life she could have led, if her mother had not fallen ill when she was in graduate school: working as an Egyptologist and uncovering artifacts with Wyatt, an archaeologist, and the first love of her life. As the two paths unfold, Dawn's various choices and long-buried secrets do as well.

"For someone who makes a living through death, I haven't given a lot of thought to my own."

I love Jodi Picoult and her books, and I count many of them among my favorites. I was intrigued by this story, but overall, this book wasn't for me. I always appreciate when an author does their research for a book, but there was so very much Egypt (from Dawn) and various scientific concepts (via Brian) in this book. Some will really enjoy this and if these were topics I was more interested in, I probably would have too. But I read this book while was I was working endless days, and I just wanted to lose myself in a story and not read pages upon pages about ancient Egypt or so much scientific theory about multiverses. It was a lot.

When the novel focused on the characters, I was more in. Dawn is an intriguing protagonist--she's not always going to make choices that the rest of us might agree with. She takes a long hard long at her life--her regrets, her past love, her marriage, and more. I don't want to give too much away, but the various paths concept is an interesting one, for sure. I enjoyed both of them--especially Dawn's work as a death doula in her Boston life and then her relationship with Wyatt (who seemed very enigmatic--I could see why she was drawn to him) in Egypt.

No matter what, Picoult does what she does best--give us a fascinating look at love, marriage, and loss. She makes us think and question what we might do in Dawn's position. There are some twists and surprises thrown in along the way. I skimmed some of the Egypt stuff (I'm sorry!) and might have forgiven it all together, except then she gave me an up-in-the-air ending. After all that reading and reading! Sigh. No resolution endings seem to be a theme lately. And not one I'm a fan of, either. So, with that, a 3-star read for me. But I'll read Picoult's next book eagerly, as always.